NEUOFFENBARUNG[Gr.01_006,01] Recall some of the other things I have revealed to you about nature, particularly the origin of the animal world. You will soon understand why our mountain was called a large and remarkable almshouse in the introduction.
[Gr.01_006,02] Souls and spirits still very much attached to earthly things generally remain in the region of the planet they once inhabited in the body. They are often full of anger, malice and rage at having had to leave their pleasant earthly life so soon, and seek revenge in every possible way. They cannot see the earth, for a spirit can see only what is within it and nothing outside it. By inner correspondence, however, they know exactly where on earth they are. As spirits they are in manifest conflict with the spiritual powers of nature, but soon unite with them to harm, wherever possible, the earth that abandoned them so early.
[Gr.01_006,03] Through correspondence they also know in their spiritual state that such a mountain giant is of natural benefit to many surrounding lands, and are particularly fond of remaining near it. Look at the picture if you cannot see the mountain itself. You will soon see how masses of rock tower one above another all around it. Dark grey clouds often rise suddenly, on the slightest pretext, from their gorges, bends and recesses. Once above the highest rocky peaks, as though catching sight of our Grossglockner, they immediately retreat and often cannot be driven out of their hiding places by even the strongest wind.
[Gr.01_006,04] This is a very sure sign of the presence of such ill-tempered and malicious spirits, already allied with the spiritual powers of nature.
[Gr.01_006,05] Raise your eyes higher, to the white expanses of our glacier, and you will find clouds and mists there almost continually too, though of an almost dazzling white. These also are spirits, but of a good kind. Those floating highest are angelic spirits appointed as guardians. The mists lower down on the glacier, usually forming straight bands of cloud, are also good spirits, but not yet fully ready for the heights. They must make themselves fit for them by faithful vigilance and many struggles against the wicked spirits.
[Gr.01_006,06] If you were in that region and watched the play of the mists for days, you would never dream that these airy powers could come to serious blows. Anyone who had time to wait until they did could expect to be beside themselves with terror, scarcely able to see or hear.
[Gr.01_006,07] How does a fight arise there? What usually occasions it? Once we know the occasion, its cause will not remain hidden from us.
[Gr.01_006,08] The wicked spirits mentioned earlier are forever plotting revenge. They want to seize the throne that brings blessings to the surrounding lands so that they can scatter calamities in every direction from it. They gather in the lower hiding places and make little sorties to see how the throne is guarded and occupied. If it looks fairly clear, word spreads far and wide at the speed of thought. From every deeply fissured peak great masses of equally dark grey cloud begin to emerge and rise. A sky that was perfectly clear is often thickly covered within minutes by these clouds, which are frequently quite black. They cross and recross and approach the throne by roundabout routes, as you say, to mislead its guards.
[Gr.01_006,09] At such a time the Grossglockner is usually quite free of cloud and mist for a short while. As soon as the guardians see the wicked spirits’ trickery, they gather together and conceal themselves carefully in the great crystal temples inside the mountain.
[Gr.01_006,10] When the leaders of the far-flung wicked bands see that the throne is unoccupied, they at once order their unruly troops to rise as high as they can, fall swiftly upon the throne and take captive for ever and crush everything they find in the inner chambers.
[Gr.01_006,11] At this command the grey rabble rushes upon the Grossglockner with a haste unbelievable to anyone who has never seen such a sight. Even at midday its surroundings grow so dark that people in nearby valleys often have to resort to candles and lamps. Then all usually falls still, for the wicked spirits think they have finally won. But the quiet lasts no more than seventy-seven minutes. Then very dense white clouds begin to emerge from the fissures in the ice. They spread swiftly beneath the black clouds and, once sufficiently broad and dense, begin almost imperceptibly to rise, bearing the black rabble, as it were, higher and higher on their backs.
[Gr.01_006,12] When the black rabble notices the trick, it soon opens a gap and lets the white clouds through. The spirits of the white clouds know this well. They also know what the wicked spirits are thinking: ‘Go on out. Once you are all outside, we shall see who takes possession of the throne.’
[Gr.01_006,13] Once the white clouds are all above the black ones, they often spread like a net for many miles in every direction with lightning speed, capturing the whole wicked rabble on its own, as you say.
[Gr.01_006,14] When messages of every kind are telegraphed in spirit to the throne, announcing that the white spirits have surrounded and captured them on all sides, the heroes who have already seized the throne are enraged at the white spirits’ cunning. They concentrate all their troops to force their way back through the white masses. This is the beginning of the actual battle.
[Gr.01_006,15] At first you would hear a tremendous roar and tumult within the mass of black cloud. It comes from the spirits pressing against each other and growing more and more enraged. The harder they strive to break through and destroy the spirits above, the more they are pressed down by them.
[Gr.01_006,16] The spirits below begin to ignite in their fury. A fiery scene soon follows in which often more than a thousand fierce flashes of lightning in a second shoot out in every direction, upwards and downwards, with an earth-shaking crash. Sideways they seek to kill the white masses pressing down upon them, upwards to destroy the white spirits’ leaders, and downwards to earth to destroy the throne.
[Gr.01_006,17] That is the first manoeuvre. When the spirits of the white clouds see that the enemy bands below have, as it were, run out of ammunition, they suddenly seize the black spirits on every side, compress them until they are as hard as stone, and hurl them violently to earth. Most naturally fall on the broad ice fields of the throne itself, while smaller lumps fall as hail into the surrounding depths. This makes it easy to see why masses of ice weighing a hundredweight often plunge from the clouds over the ice fields of the Grossglockner, sometimes so densely that one block seems to drive another before it.
[Gr.01_006,18] Once the black rabble lies wholly defeated on the ground, the white spirits send down rain consisting of spirits of peace. Finally they themselves dissolve into a bitterly cold wind, binding the defeated for a long time to the ice already on the throne. They thereby give these wicked beings a rest in which they generally come to think better of their conduct. When that happens, the icy bond, or natural-spiritual power, dissolves again into flowing water, and the humbled spirit is free to exercise its freedom again.
[Gr.01_006,19] If it reforms, it is soon admitted to the lower ranks of the spirits of peace. If it does not reform and repeats the attack on another occasion, which unfortunately happens most often, it is captured again in the ordinary, simple way, but kept in captivity a little longer each time.
[Gr.01_006,20] This is the first scene among spirits, occurring especially where at least a supposed throne is at issue. It is by no means the only one. There are many others that do not impinge so visibly on the natural world, but make themselves known in various ways to the feelings of those who have occasion to climb even the lower part of such a mountain.
[Gr.01_006,21] To keep our account of the mountain within bounds, next time we shall attend briefly to only two more points and then turn quickly to the part concerning the gospel, which is by far the most important for you.
[Gr.01_006,22] Let that be enough again for today.